Howdy! Welcome to Fan Art once again. It has been another busy week but now I'm rewarded with a long weekend and a short workweek comprised of three days right after it. I hope I can relax a bit. Dragon Quest is almost finished (I think) and it was quite fun, especially after fixing some technical problems. I haven't progressed much in Baldur's Gate, but as usual, it's lots of fun. On the art side of things, I've been working on the concept art for some unknown game and it should be finished sometime soon.

How about some fan art, now? Ishi steals the spotlight this week with her Chronomantic piece featuring Serge and Kid from Chrono Cross! Ok, now I have never seen that art book, but those costumes look rather nice, though very different from their in-game costumes. The classic composition evokes a wedding portrait and I think that was the artist's idea from the start. Nice attention to detail all over the piece with fine ornaments on the costumes and detailed flowers. This drawing has a serene feel to it and makes me want to go out and smell some flowers.

Siegfried VII offers you a new Cloud, one that looks more like someone you could see in the streets than what you have seen in the original Final Fantasy VII game and movie. He also looks a bit older so maybe that's a couple years after the games. I usually try not to comment on this kind of issue, but here it is quite obvious, unfortunately. The arms look a bit short when compared to the character as a whole. More positively, I love the way the face is rendered. Great detail and good anatomy. I would have liked to see that attention spread over all of the character because some parts look like they have not received such a good treatment.

Is this the Promised Land Aeris is sitting in? If yes, then maybe Cloud was right in the last picture. He can find her here, although they do not seem to come from the same world at all. This manga interpretation of Aeris shows you the dangers of watercolors. If a drop falls on your drawing, it's there forever. In this case the accident is really not that bad, in my opinion. Actually, it looks like a shadow on her face more than a drop of watercolor. Nice colors all around although the piece would have gained a lot with deeper and darker shadows. When you want to add a deeper shadow, try a dark blue or purple. For example, instead of using darker pink for the dress, try with a dark blue. Watercolor as well as paint lend themselves pretty well to this technique.

Two weeks ago you saw our first Odin Sphere fan art and it was made by Lucas Cersaine. This week, you get a second drawing from the same game and the same artist. This one is as action-packed as the first one, with a very dynamic pose. The shading is strong and details the shapes nicely. The expression on the character's face shows real anger and aggressivity. The angle is also very interesting, as if the character were jumping at the viewer, adding some dynamism to the whole picture.

Closing the regular update this week is Boum's take on Wind Waker. Now that's a game I'm not sure I'll ever finish, but that's not really the point. The piece is very cartoony, a lot like young Link's adventures. Cartoony usually means very little shading and Porcelina of the Vast Ocean is no exception. However, almost everything is given texture in a way or another. I find the clouds and pirate design on the sail to be quite interesting, but the ship looks a bit crooked and weird. Warm colors for the ship and character and cool colors for the background help define the perspective while hard and thick black lines help your eyes identify each shape.

The adventure continues in both comics. This week marks the end of the Intro for Orinocou's Final Fantasy VI comic while Cecil and Rydia have a private discussion. Enjoy the comics! Also, you guys were pretty quiet last week! I haven't received any new fan art in about 12 days. So post in the forums and send in some fan art!

Maxime Viventi